Finished watching Strawberry on the Shortcake. The title is apparently based on the question, if you like strawberries, would you eat the strawberry on the shortcake first or leave it to the last?
It's a bit annoying when the male main character obsesses incessantly about how incompatible he is with the girl he likes (his non blood-related stepsister) because he leaves his strawberry to the last while she eats it first. But i guess that's rather understandable because people actually do that in real life. So many people like to take strange personality quizzes (look at what many 'friends' do on facebook) and set their lives store by what kind of anime character, cocktail, or aura colour they are.
(Though i'm no better myself, having said things like 'i don't like this major change because i'm a DISC S-type', when it should be 'i don't like this major change, guess i'm a S-type, hehe.')
I like the scene in one of the last episodes when his ex brings his hospitalized stepsister a box of cakes, but invites him to eat one because he's hungry. He opens the box to find that they're strawberry shortcakes, picks one up and hesistates, wondering where he should start first. It's like, eating the strawberry first would be changing yourself to the kind of person you want to be, and yet it would be untrue to yourself, letting yourself be changed by the influence of others. I like the way he goes, 'Even now you put me in a spot, angel.'
Anyway, I guess people who eat the strawberry first are the live-in-the-moment kind of people, while people who eat it last are people who worry about the future. Both lifestyles involve some kind of sacrifice. The first kind is the kind to spend their happiness too quickly, leaving no insurance for the future, while the second is the kind who cannot enjoy life at the moment because they're always looking into the future. And there's also the disappointment if the strawberry turns out to be not as good as one expected. The safest way, i think, would be to eat the strawberry bit by bit along the way, like, a small bite with every, say, three forkfuls of cake. Plus i think the strawberry would be too sour on its own, and the creamy cake too sweet, so it's better for them it complement each other in that way?
Though i guess if one really likes strawberry, it's more satisfying to eat it whole in one go than have a small chunk periodically.
Watching Strawberry on the Shortcake. It's a jap drama about a guy who loves his stepsister, but whom loves his classmate, whom in turn loves his english teacher. And the male lead has a girlfriend who loves him (very complicated love pentagon!). Was watching episode three when i came across the following conversation between his girlfriend and his stepsister. It's on possessivness.
Stepsister: For me, the feeling of wanting to be with him are stronger than the fear of being disliked. Girlfriend: I guess I feel the other way 'cause I don't want to be disliked. S: That means you don't really like him that much. G: Eh? S: That means you like yourself more than you like him.
I guess that makes sense. When one worries about being disliked, one is thinking more about oneself than about the one doing the disliking. Because when we talk about 'being disliked', the subject, and thus the point of focus, is the one who's being disliked. Thinking about 'being disliked' is thinking from the perspective of the one being disliked.
HOWEVER
If one persists in one's desire to be with someone in spite of their feelings of ire, then one is not thinking of the other's feelings as well. It also means that one is liking oneself more than the other party.
This got me thinking. People think of a scale as a straight line. Where the two extremes are as far from each other as can be. But a scale for measuring action ought not be the case. Instead, i think it should be thought of as U shaped. Because many a time, two extreme actions tend to stem from the same motivation, or give the same results. Thoughtless parental love can be the reason for spoiling a child, but it can also be the reason for abusive discipline. Being too lenient to a kid ruins him, but so does being overly strict. Being overly defensive about homosexuals leads to suspicion about a guy's sexual orientation, but so does overreacting to homosexuals in a negative way.
Actually, now that i think of it, this is the kind of philosophical theory that i used to hate. So-and-so concept shouldn't be thought of as a circle! It should be thought of as a square! I used to go, uhhh, SO? How does thinking of something as a square or circle do anything NEW for it?
Either my philosophical mindset is maturing, or i am tired from yesterday's jogging, lack of sleep, and today's events.
Watching Honey and Clover life action movie now. The review at designchronicle said that while it's rather disappointing (considering how good the anime was), one shouldn't leave until the scrolling credits end because the ending theme, Aozora Pedal by Arashi, is quite good. The promotional video is in jap, but that shouldn't stop anyone from getting the basic storyline.